Portcullis

I'm glad the previous review was one of the first reviews I've seen since joining this site. I was lucky enough to find the game a few months back and give it a go. It has an old school feel which I love. Very nostalgic. The simple artwork suited the game perfectly.

As for length, difficulty, and design? Not too long or short, not too hard or too easy. Not simple and not overly complicated in design. Everything was just right! I'd recommend this to all IF fans.

Well done.

Johnson's* wit has never been in doubt (anybody who has ever played "Aunts and Butlers" can testify to that) but here he's chosen another topic ripe for satire, that 35 year old Infocom adventure classic Zork.

From that oh-so familiar cover to the charming simple illustrations dotted throughout, it's a wry look at some classic fantasy tropes, and I genuinely laughed out loud on more than one occasion. It's a rare game indeed where even the 'game over' screen raises a smile. It's also running under an excellent parser and I only struggled over the puzzles, not how to word their solution. Top notch all round, and thoroughly recommended.

* - As an aside, isn't it odd how it's acceptable to refer to somebody by their surname when you're reviewing their work. I'd never dream of calling him Johnson to his face.

This game is in green text on a black background and is a home-brew web parser. However, it is more polished than most such games.

You play a simple village resident who decides to help some adventurers defeat an evil necromancer. By dealing with some clever puzzles (a color-based code, some animals, a trading game, etc.), you can deal with the necromancer and your adventurer friends.

The puzzles were occasionally too clever for their own good ((Spoiler - click to show)I'm thinking of the mummy solution, or the hellhound), but this should appeal to the game's main target demographic of old school fans.

Strongly recommended for fans of Scott Adam's games.